


Danse Macabre

by windbloom



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: 30 Day OTP Challenge, Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Blood, Dark Comedy, F/F, Gunshot Wounds, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, Obsession, One-Sided Relationship, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rough Sex, Threesome - F/F/F, Wax Play, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-02
Updated: 2014-10-23
Packaged: 2018-02-19 14:10:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 15
Words: 14,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2391227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windbloom/pseuds/windbloom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikani dark/angst/horror ficlets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Vampire AU

**Author's Note:**

> Challenge located [here](http://actualodinson.tumblr.com/post/64547472272/30-day-dark-fandom-otp-writing-challenge)

The dark-haired slayer kept her eyes narrowed, and her mouth shut tight. She didn’t let a sound escape. She wouldn’t give her captor the pleasure. She could feel the sharp fangs sinking into the unhealed wounds on her neck, and she could feel the blood, her blood, flowing freely for a moment before getting licked and sucked on and inevitably swallowed. She closed her eyes.

The first time she’d lost that much blood she’d felt lightheaded and dizzy. If she didn’t have her arms chained above her head she would have surely fallen to her hands and knees, or maybe she’d have lost consciousness entirely.

She could feel Leonhardt’s tongue at her neck. It stung against her torn flesh, wet with blood and saliva. She held back a shudder. She wondered what the Elders would say if they knew the hand she’d been dealt. She, who was their champion, the strongest of all them, and with the most kills. Defeated. Succumbing to a vampire’s kiss.

Annie pulled away to let the wound heal. She was controlled. She took only just enough. It wasn’t consideration so much as careful planning. She wanted her prey alive for as long as possible.

“You’ve made me strong. I should thank Pixis for sending you to me.”

Mikasa opened her eyes. The vampire with the bleached blonde hair and the cold blue eyes stared back at her. Her skin was so pale it was nearly translucent, but it was taut beneath toned muscle.

“You have horrible manners, Ackerman.” Annie murmured as she leaned closer. Mikasa kept still as the blonde placed a cold hand upon her bare shoulder. Her tank top was red and rusty with her own blood, but she kept her expression blank. She wouldn’t let Annie’s intimidation get to her.

It was the charisma that she had to watch out for.

“Oh, so dark. So regal. Your eyes.” Annie nearly whispered as her clever hand slid down Mikasa’s shoulder and across her chest. Her knuckles grazed against her breasts. Annie’s eyes darkened with a terrible satisfaction as her finger’s brushed against Mikasa’s firm abs.

“The beast in me says devour, but it would be a shame to waste you.”

Mikasa could feel the pressure in her temples as she grit her teeth and tried to keep herself from shaking with rage.

“Pixis didn’t send me.”

Annie’s hand abruptly stopped just before the seam of Mikasa’s trousers.

“You mean to say you came all this way by yourself? On your own?” Annie asked, sounding somehow both amused and incredulous at the same time.

“They’re still not even sure you’ve turned.”

There were high windows in the run-down, rotten cathedral, and in the cloudless night’s sky the moon hung like a curse, casting a sickening glow across Annie’s skin, and shining in her serious eyes. Mikasa watched her quietly.

“I might be the only one who has figured it out. Besides Armin.”

Mikasa could see the way her words cut against the grain. Annie’s eyes sharpened, and she began to lean back.

“What are you saying?”

“I looked for you. After you left. You have no idea how many vampires I had to hunt to find out where you were hiding. They told me you were weak. Dying.”

Annie’s eyes widened. Her hand dropped, limp and white against her torn skirt.

“You’re not weak anymore, are you, Annie?” Mikasa said slowly, meaningfully, before the muscles in her arms jerked and the chains at the ceiling came crashing down. Annie jumped back, but Mikasa jumped forward, and the dust swirled around her like devil’s smoke. She flexed the muscles in her arms, and the chains snapped like flimsy, cheap bracelets.

“You knew…?” Annie’s voice broke.

“All along.”

Annie smiled. It hit Mikasa like a falling star. The weight of it, the pain in her eyes, it was too much. Mikasa pulled out a shard of wood from the inside of her boot and held it like a dagger.

“Annie, it didn’t change a thing.”


	2. Rough Sex

Mikasa went out the back. She wanted to avoid the crowds. It wasn’t that amateur cage fighting was a very popular thing, but after the upset she wasn’t going to take any chances. She didn’t even have time to hose off. Her knuckles were still smeared with blood, and sweat was dripping down her neck.

She pushed open the door to the alley with her elbow and turned towards the parking lot. It was muggy and humid outside, with heat creeping in the air like after it storms. She bit at the side of her lip as she walked down the narrow space between the two buildings. She could go home and play Call of Duty until she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore, or she could hit Studio 104.

She stood in front of her car for a few minutes, trying to decide. Going anywhere but home was a bad decision.

“Fuck it.”

She shoved her keys back into her pocket and turned towards the road. The club was only a few blocks down. She could go for an hour and then leave. What would it matter?

The club was already starting to fill up. The pounding music drowned out her heartbeat, and the dark, smoky room felt suffocating. She was already regretting her decision.

She stood at the end of the bar and leaned against the wall. Ymir was working the bar like a champ. She already had two groups of girls and a group of guys vying for her attention. After a while, Ymir had the time to notice her. She pulled a frosty mug out from behind the counter and filled it full of ice and water.

“You win?” Ymir yelled above the music.

“Yep.”

“Damn. You’re on a roll.”

Mikasa shrugged and took a gulp of ice water. It felt good, but she felt like shit. She looked out at the crowd. The bodies all pressing against one another to the beat were disgusting.

“I haven’t seen her,” Ymir yelled, and she looked apologetic.

Mikasa narrowed her eyes.

“That’s not why I’m here.”

Ymir smirked and shrugged, and then the group of rich college girls at the other end of the bar waved her over and she left Mikasa alone.

“Who am I kidding,” she muttered as she set her glass down. For Ymir to mention it, word must have travelled. How painfully obvious had she been? Eren hadn’t said a word about it, but she was always the last to know when other people knew about her business.

She went out the back again. She had always been drawn to alleys. There was something mysteriously sinister and lonely about them. A place where she felt surprisingly safe. A place to hide.

Annie turned the corner and stepped into the alley from the opposite end. She saw Mikasa, but she didn’t stop, and as she walked towards her Mikasa felt like an idiot for stopping dead in her tracks, like a frightened animal in front of headlights. She grit her teeth.

“Finally decided to show yourself?” She spat, and raised her arms to cross her chest.

Annie appraised her for a moment before she spoke.

“You know I can’t stay in one place for too long.”

Her voice was just like Mikasa had remembered it. Sullen and apathetic, with a tinge of cruelty.

“The Studio is probably worried.”

“We both know they don’t give a shit about me. Anyway, how was your match?”

“You mean all twelve of them? Because that’s how fucking long it has been.” Mikasa was surprised to hear her voice as it shook with rage.

“Since what…?” Annie said teasingly as she took a few steps closer. Her pale eyes in the dirty yellow light narrowed, and a smile played at her lips.

“Fuck off.” Mikasa spat, and she rose a hand as if to hit her, expecting Annie to flinch.

But Annie didn’t flinch.

“Come on, Ackerman. I know you want it.”

Mikasa’s hand swung like a punch, but instead of connecting with her fist she latched on to Annie’s shoulder and slammed her up against the wall. Annie’s smile exploded into a grin as she struggled against Mikasa’s weight. Mikasa pressed her hand into Annie’s shoulder as the fingers of her other hand coiled around her neck. Annie licked her lips and gasped… in pleasure.

“You’re so fucked up,” Mikasa murmured breathlessly as she pressed her thigh between Annie’s legs.

Annie laughed and put her arms around Mikasa’s shoulders. Her nails dug into the black-haired girl’s muscular back. Mikasa bit at her bottom lip and dragged her hand down from Annie’s shoulder to grope at one of her breasts.

“I’m not the one who’s jumping people in public…” Annie teased, her voice low and sultry as she ground her hips down against Mikasa’s thigh.

“I’ll take what I can get. You’ll probably disappear tomorrow anyway.” Mikasa said bitterly, confused as she felt her anger and arousal mixing together. She found Annie’s hardened nipple between her finger and thumb and tugged, hard. Annie gasped and cringed, but her eyes narrowed with delight.

“You’re not usually _this_ rough.”

Mikasa didn’t reply. Instead, she leaned forward to kiss her. She pressed her lips against hers with a desperate intensity, and then she slid her tongue into Annie’s mouth. Annie choked out a moan as Mikasa’s fingers tightened around her neck.

After a moment, Mikasa broke the kiss. Her heart was racing, and she could feel it pounding in the warmth between her legs.

She took a step back and spun Annie around so that her chest was pressed up against the wall now. Mikasa moved in close behind her and jammed a hand down her pants. Mikasa growled with satisfaction as Annie pressed her ass against her. Her fingers brushed harshly against her, and then she stuck a finger inside her, all the way to the knuckle. Annie shuddered and threw back her head.

“Oh god, yes...”

Annie moaned, moving her hips against Mikasa’s hand, pressing her clit up against Mikasa’s firm palm. The black-haired girl leaned forward and smiled against Annie’s shoulder for a moment before biting down on it. Annie nearly cried out, but she held back and worked her hips faster. Mikasa could feel her teeth almost breaking the skin as she pounded Annie with one finger, and then two.

Annie hung her head, her eyes slamming shut as she quickly reached her first orgasm, but Mikasa didn’t let go. After a moment, Mikasa started working her again, this time harder and faster. It didn’t take long for Annie to come another time. And again after that.

When Mikasa was satisfied, she let her fingers slide out smoothly and she ran her hand along Annie’s back. Annie shivered and turned around. She looked at her, exhausted, sweating, but with eyes lidded in passion.

“Now it’s my turn.”

She moved forward, but Mikasa pushed her back gently. She took a step back and headed towards the road.

“Nope, that’s all you get. If you’re still in town tomorrow we can finish what we started.”

“Damn it, Ackerman. I hate this fucking town. Don’t make me stay.”

“Then take me with you.”

Annie paused for a moment, and then she smiled.

Mikasa had missed that smile.


	3. Physical Ailments: Gunshot

I can remember back before we joined up. It wasn’t my idea, but it wasn’t yours either. There was nothing left for us in that town. I knew you felt it too – the stagnant air on those lonely winter nights. The painful silence. There were no seasons. No leaves changing color to flutter and fall. No snow.

At first I thought it would just be me. The tattoo on your calf almost changed your entire life. They decided you were too valuable. They let you through. We packed our bags together. I can still hear your mom’s voice from the other room, screaming at you about your bad decisions.

If we hadn’t left, what would have happened to us?

It was you and me. You and me up against the world. We trained together. Ate together. Slept in our own beds. We learned how to fight; how to kill, and I wasn’t afraid.

* * *

 

The shard of metal ripped into my skin and blew through my insides like one of those bullet trains, the ones we could never afford to ride, roaring through a dark tunnel, and it came out the other side so easily. So easily. It was then that I realized my own mortality. Everything happened in an instant, before I had time to think.

I cried out, but you had fallen and you hadn’t heard me above the explosions. You pushed yourself to your feet and your dark, wild eyes searched for cover. I stumbled, and you took my arm and pulled me down into the bunker.

“Well, our Iintel’s shit.”

I gulped and nodded and tried to move. My hand rose up to my side and I tried to stop it from shaking. I could feel the blood. It was hot. My blood, pouring out of me and down my back. Adrenaline kicked in. I started breathing faster. The only pain I could feel was the sharp sting where the bullet had exited.

“Annie? What’s wrong?”

I shook my head slightly and bit my bottom lip to hold back the sound. I didn’t want to tell you. I didn’t want you to have to deal with it. I looked away, but it was too late. I was a fool to think you didn’t know me.

“Oh my god. You’re hit.”

The sound of your voice was too much. I wanted to cry. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go down.

I winced as you put your hands on my stomach. Your face was serious and hard, and you tried not to look at me as you felt for damage. You reached into your pack, frantic and desperate until you managed to control your emotions.

“It’s okay. It was just a pistol. It didn’t ricochet. It’s just tissue damage.” You said these things quickly, quietly, and more to yourself than to me. I raised my hand to pull yours away, but even at my best you were always one step ahead; always stronger and faster. Who was I kidding? I was the one who needed protecting.

“Let the medics—“

“They were ahead of us, they won’t circle back.” You said this calmly, without emotion. I didn’t mind. It was your voice that mattered. The sound of it. As you touched me, I could feel your warm hands against my exposed skin, and my mind wandered back to the night where we had finally given in. Your hands had been warm then, and they had felt good. I could feel my eyes watering.

“Am I going to die?”

“No. I’m going to fix it. Hold still.”

I felt pressure at the wound and I slammed my eyes shut. With you free hand you pulled out your radio and you called for support, but they were too far ahead. I could feel your frustration as you jammed the radio back into your jacket.

“Annie. We’re going to move now. Hold on.”

You picked me up and the pain roared like a violent wind. I cringed and grabbed on to your jacket as you lifted me into your arms. You tried to run softly, but each step was a jolt of pain that I had to bear.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. We’re going to make it.”

You said this to me in a whisper as you ran, circling back and around, and after an eternity we made it to camp. After that, what happened? You set me down and I blacked out. All I can remember is your face, hanging over me, and it reminded me of our first kiss. I was so unsure then, but I’m not unsure now.

I want to live. I have so much to tell you.


	4. Forbidden Relationship

You ran track. I’m still not sure why you decided to join, or if it was your decision at all. I remember sitting on the curb and pulling on my shin guards and long socks and cleats and my eyes would wander up to watch you run the 100m.

You were different. You were quiet. You didn’t have many friends. My friends told me this, and I listened, but it only made me more intrigued. Sometimes, you got into fights with the older girls, and even though you lost you stood up for yourself. I admired you, secretly from afar. That’s as close as I could let myself get.

You were amazing at track. You won all the meets. I didn’t go to them, but I heard about them afterwards. When I got recruited for shot put I got to see for myself. I remember catching your expression just before the start. Determined. Stoic. Afraid. I started to get the feeling that you were running to escape, but I didn’t know from what.

You missed practice sometimes. I look back on that and feel like an idiot. I was the highest scoring center forward since ’98, got my letter freshman year, state shot put champ, high marks, volunteered on the weekends, multiple scholarships likely, but I still couldn’t see beyond your sullen eyes and your messy blonde hair. I didn’t know you, I just thought I knew you.

Looking back on it, I was wrapped up in the thought of you. I’d created an entire mythology to support it. The stories I told were the reality I held on to. Of course, I told myself you felt the same way. I told myself you watched me, when I was focused and performing. When I woke up early to run laps, or stayed after school to hit the weights, I told myself you’d notice. I thought you secretly cared for me in just the same way.

Still, I couldn’t approach you. We were too different. That silent relationship was enough for me. Maybe I was afraid. Maybe I didn’t want to upset the balance. If talking to you meant losing what I thought I had, I could go without. I started to think about you more and more often. I dreamt of you. The songs I listened to spoke to me about you. The meaning in the movies and shows I watched I drained into us.

Looking back on it, I guess it was kind of creepy.

You came to school with a bruise under your eye and blood at your lip, and everything changed. They took you to the counselor’s room during first period. I watched you walk out the door. You didn’t glance my way.

That was the last time I ever saw you.


	5. Rituals

They had told her to watch herself. They had warned her against kind words or gentle glances. They were working together, but that alliance would end after the moon dipped below the clouds and the sun climbed above the rim of the earth.

They told her to be guarded. They told her to keep her wits about her. The Daughters of Iao were not to be trusted. Liars and thieves, all of them. Focus on the ritual, they said. Do what you came for and nothing else.

She had tried to listen.

_“We call upon the archons. The titans of mud and stone, sleeping deep within the heart of the living mountain. Hear us.”_

Mikasa looked up, her eyes drawn, and across the flames of the roaring bonfire she saw her. A girl, about her age, hooded like her, eyes in shadow beneath her cowl, blonde bangs hanging across half her face. Her skin was pale, luminescent and glowing like a moonlit butterfly in the reflection of a blue pool.

In a word, Mikasa found her beautiful.

It was only then that she noticed the girl’s lips were still. She was not reciting the incantation. The candle flame she held before her did not waver with the breath of life.

Mikasa faltered, and she too halted her recital. Staring, transfixed, across the flame. The flickering light licking at the blonde’s pointed chin, her nose, her sculpted cheek bones. Was it the drum that pounded in her chest, harder and faster, until she felt she could bear it no longer? Her eyes, on this stranger’s lips. The unmoving lips of a person she had been warned away from. As she watched, time halted, stilled and became clear.

Then her mouth did move, and Mikasa’s eyes widened as she read her lips.

_Follow me._

* * *

 

After the incantation was over, it was easy to find the time to sneak away. The forest was not a place one was taught to linger in for too long, and with the bonfire put out and the robed figures hurrying in every direction it would be hard for anyone to notice that Mikasa hadn’t rejoined her group.

Mikasa tried her best to track the blonde. She had seen where she went, but she was unused to making her way through the uncut branches and underbrush. She cursed in frustration as her robe got caught, and when she had untangled herself she saw nothing but the darkness ahead. She stood still and narrowed her keen eyes, and it was not long before she saw the faint flicker of a lone candle in the distance.

She followed quietly, and in time she reached a small clearing with an extinguished bonfire in the middle. She turned her head to the right and in the darkness she could make out the shore of a lake. The swollen, still lake was as black as the void, and Mikasa found it unnerving as she stared at it and noticed that the moon was not reflected on its surface.

“The Black Lake.”

Mikasa turned, startled, and her hand went instinctively to the knife on her belt.

The blonde noticed, and smiled.

“Your instincts are impressive. Were you always a witch?”

Mikasa said nothing.

“That’s a compliment.” The smile faded from the blonde’s lips.

“Why did you bring me out here?”

“I didn’t bring you anywhere.”

“You know what I mean.”

Then the blonde smirked, and tilted her head to one side. “You assume I was talking to you.”

Mikasa heard the bushes behind her rustle, and she turned in time to see two hooded figures emerge. She took a cautious step back. What the hell was she getting herself into?

“Damn. Did that incantation last forever or what?” The taller of the two girls pushed her hood down. Her face was a strange combination of viciousness and playfulness, like the tricksters from the old legends. Mikasa stared at her.

“Don’t speak ill of the old ways, Ymir. You don’t know who might be listening.” The other girl kept her hood up, but Mikasa could see her long blonde hair flowing behind. Her voice was the polar opposite of the first girl’s, light and airy like summer clouds, but with a sharpness that amplified her meaning.

“Tch. Alright. Well, let’s do this.” The taller girl stepped forward, but when she noticed Mikasa standing there and she froze.

“Wait. Who the hell are you?”

“She’s with me.” The blonde behind Mikasa said, and Mikasa thought she could hear a defiant, protective tinge to it.

“Fuck, Annie. Come on. You need to stop doing this.” Ymir said, sounding frustrated.

“Doing what? We can do a lot more with four.”

“It’s dangerous and you know it. You need to—“

“Stop it, both of you. We don’t have the time.” The shorter girl behind Ymir spoke quickly and stepped forward. Mikasa was relieved, but not for long.

“I’m sorry, but I have no idea what’s going on.” She blurted out, feeling like an idiot as she said it.

Ymir looked like she was about to say something, but Krista grabbed the sleeve of her robe and pulled her down to sit on the ground around the extinguished bonfire. Annie lowered herself as well, and patted the grass adjacent to her.

“Doesn’t matter; just do what I say. Come and sit.”

Mikasa obeyed. What else could she do at this point? She was starting to get nervous. The palms of her hands were sweating, and she felt hot in her robes.

The four sat in silence for a few minutes. Mikasa was on edge the entire time. No magic she knew involved such a small number of witches, and such an elongated period of silence was unheard of.

Annie reached down and brought the candle to her lips. She spoke with the flame a few inches from her mouth.

_“Source of all things, creator of man and world. They who established all things, and gave life even to the false god. To whom the archons bow. They, who are invisible to the Daughters. They, who are humanity’s one true salvation from all things material.”_

Mikasa felt entranced. She could feel magic being drained from her, but she had no idea how it could be happening. All that mattered was Annie’s voice. There was a sadness and a strength in it that Mikasa could barely handle.

_“We see you. We ask to be seen by you. Hear us, as we hear you. Show us you exist, as we show you we exist.”_

“Acolyte. Lift your arm and pull up your sleeve.”

Mikasa realized Annie was talked to her. She glanced at the other two girls. They were deep in trance. She shakily lifted up her arm, and with her free hand she slowly pulled back the sleeve.

Annie rose to her knees and held Mikasa’s arm out with one of her hands. The other hand, still holding the candle, she raised above Mikasa’s arm. Mikasa's eyes widened as Annie tilted the candle downward.

When the burning wax touched Mikasa’s skin she felt it run deep into the very core of her. She cried out. She could feel it trickling along her forearm, drying slowly as it ran along the slight veins and toned muscles. She felt herself shrinking from the inside out. She struggled to move, but she was no longer in control.

She watched from inside her mind as the wax cooled on her skin, and she saw Annie’s lips. She was smiling, and her eyes were wild and pale as burning sapphire.

Mikasa heard her own voice change from a cry to a roar.

“See our devotion, summoned one. Hear us! We ask for the power of Ialdabaoth.” Annie’s eyes widened, and her voice shook. The candles around the circle flared up suddenly, and a distant hum sounded beneath them.

“…I see and hear you, human. Why seek you the power of a false god?” Mikasa heard the words coming out of her mouth, but it was not her voice. Was she losing it? Was this even happening? Had she tripped on a rock and hit her head?

“We could fight your battles, if we had but the power.” Annie said, her voice low and dark.

“Very well. I grant you this power, but only in times of great need. Use it well, and do not fail me.”

And then, in an instant and with a horrible tearing feeling in her muscles and organs, Mikasa felt suddenly alone. Whatever happened to her, it was over now. Her arm dropped to her side, and she sat there in shock. The candles all around them burned out, and the smoke rose from the dead wicks like grey, skeletal ghosts.

Ymir dropped her hood slowly and stared at Mikasa, her brown eyes were wide and childlike.

“…Holy shit. It worked.”

The shorter blonde beside Ymir dropped her hood too. Her eyes were watery and red, as if she’d been crying, but her expression was one of amazement as she looked upon Mikasa’s exhausted form.

“Annie. How did you know?” She asked, her voice rising just above a whisper and nearly breaking as she spoke.

“I didn’t.”

And that’s when Annie leaned forward, knocking the candles before her to their sides, and she grabbed Mikasa’s shoulders and pulled her in to a passionate kiss.


	6. Knife Play

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning - Knife play and elements of BDSM.

Annie could hear the sound of the blade being sharpened at the other end of the room.

She lay on the large four-poster bed on her stomach. Her hands were bound behind her back, and her ankles and bent knees were bound together with black-dyed hemp. Despite the restrictive binding, she was surprisingly comfortable, and quite naked.

Mikasa had taken her time tying her up. Slow, decisive. It allowed Annie to focus.

“I was wondering when you’d be back.” Mikasa remarked idly as she switched her stone to a less coarse one and continued to sharpen the six inch blade. Annie had been there when Mikasa had purchased it for more money than Annie made in one paycheck. The thought of that had made her bitter at first, until she realized Mikasa had bought it for her.

Still, it was absurd for Mikasa to be so nonchalant about it. It made Annie’s heart pound. But that’s what she wanted, and Mikasa knew it. She supposed she deserved some nonchalance. She had certainly kept the black-haired girl guessing. She’d been gone for weeks. Of course, she always came back. How could she not?

“Mm.” Mikasa growled with satisfaction as she ran her hand along the blade, from spine to edge.

Annie tried to breathe normally as she heard Mikasa coming towards her, slowly, with her heavy boots hitting the wooden floor. Mikasa reached forward, and Annie felt her secure the blindfold over her eyes.

“Are you ready?” Mikasa asked quietly.

“Yes.” Annie replied resolutely.

Mikasa gently placed the flat of the knife on Annie’s back, and Annie gasped as the side of the blade touched her skin. It was ice cold, as if Mikasa had put it in the freezer for hours. It sent goose bumps rippling across her skin. She held back a shudder. Mikasa knew she could count on Annie to keep sudden movements to a minimum.

“Why are you so good at this?” Mikasa whispered, and she picked the blade up and placed the flat of it against Annie’s ass. The cold metal pressed against her warm flesh and she bit down on her bottom lip, making a desperate sound.

“You’re the one who’s good at it. All I have to do is lie here.” Annie muttered.

Mikasa smiled and pressed the spine of the blade against the small of Annie’s back. She lifted her hand and drew a slight line up her back with the blunt side, but from Annie’s point of view the freezing cold blade felt razor sharp.

“Don’t move,” Mikasa whispered into Annie’s ear. The blonde hastily obeyed. Mikasa had always been impressed with Annie’s resolve. She seemed to lack any sense of fear. Mikasa trailed the spine of the blade along the backs of Annie’s thighs, watching for any sudden movements in case she needed to react.

“My mother taught me how to sharpen a blade, long ago.” Mikasa said slowly. She touched the blunt edge of the knife with her ungloved finger. It was starting to warm to Annie’s skin. She lifted it and placed it silently in a bucket of freezing cold water by the side of the bed.

“And she showed me how to break the skin,” Mikasa trailed off, and she raised the blade and pressed the blunt edge against Annie’s upper back. The cold beads of water dripped down Annie’s tensed muscles. To the blonde, the water must have felt like blood.

Mikasa continued to draw slow, precise lines on Annie’s back with the unsharpened edge, and each time, she pressed a little harder. Annie was choking out moans by the time she stopped.

Annie’s heart was racing, and it took everything in her power not to panic. Adrenaline was pumping in her veins. Mikasa had predicted Annie would be able to hold on, if just barely. She set the knife down and pulled off Annie’s blindfold. Annie saw the blade, clean and unbloodied, resting at the foot of the bed.

Mikasa ran a warm, wet cloth along Annie’s body. It was relaxing, and Annie started to come down. She sighed.

“Welp, that was a goddamn mindfuck.”

Mikasa laughed.

“That’s why you came back, isn’t it?”


	7. Evil!AU

They had reserved the pent house suite for an entire week. Annie had to pull some strings to make it happen. The Colombian ambassador was not going to be happy.

The suite had 12 bathrooms. The master bedroom was larger than most people’s houses. The view of the city below was to die for. It was $35,000 a night.

In short, it was only for the filthy rich.

Mikasa and Annie were on the gigantic four poster bed, sitting propped up against two of the twenty pillows that were scattered across the room. They were naked from the waist up. Mikasa was wearing a pair of trousers with the suspenders unhooked. Annie was in a pair of black underwear. There were empty wine glasses and half-empty bottles of expensive liquor on the bed and the floor.

Annie had a sleek, top of the line tablet in one hand and a remote control for the 80” curved plasma TV across the room in the other. She glanced at stock prices on the tablet as she flicked through the channels.

“I’m all for 600 channels, but can we hire someone to flip through them?”

“Use the TV guide.”

Annie lifted up the remote. It had about fifty different buttons of various sizes and colors.

“It would take me even longer that way.”

Mikasa looked like she was about to say something, but then one of the three cell phones she had sitting next to her made a digital chime sound. She picked it up quickly and said something short in Cantonese.

After a pause, she spoke again, this time with a tinge of anger in her voice. After hearing the reply on the other end she said another couple words and hung up.

“Fucking peasants,” she muttered, then she lifted a stack of papers from her lap and began studying them. They were mostly covered in numbers, graphs and charts.

“I love when you speak Cantonese.” Annie growled softly, and edged herself closer to the taller girl.

Mikasa’s eyes were on the TV. “Whoa! You just passed it. Go back.”

Annie looked up, not realizing she had still been still been flipping through channels. She went back, and there it was. A title on the screen said _Ackerhardt: A Conspiracy Written in Blood_.

 _“Mikasa Ackerman. Eldest daughter of the Ackerman family. Born into money, she inherited the Ackerman estate at the age of fourteen, and she took a great interest in controlling the company’s fortune and holdings,”_ A male voice on the screen said. It sounded like the voice from a movie trailer.

“Wow, they’re showing the Hilton Head house? That’s not even a good one,” Mikasa said idly. Annie nudged her in the ribs to stop her from talking.

 _“After inheriting her father’s company, she made a great many changes. Namely, she moved most of her factories overseas. The factories she did keep are reported to be some of the most hostile environments in the Country. The conditions at her big box stores aren’t much better,”_ A man on the screen appeared, standing in front of an Ackermart store off a highway. A protest seemed to be happening behind him.

The camera panned to the right to show a tall girl with a short ponytail standing around in an Ackermart uniform. Her hands were shoved deep into her pockets.

_“Yeah, I’ve been working here about three years. They don’t pay nearly enough, and they expect you to work crazy hours. I remember pulling a 24 hour shift right before Christmas. Shit, it was—“_

The reporter cut her off as the camera panned again to show a shorter blonde girl standing beside the Ackermart employee. The reporter started talking again.

_“And that’s not all. Ackermart stores are only the start of a vicious cycle of destruction and careless decisions. I'm here with an activist who has been fighting against Ackermart’s corporate stance on environmental pollution. Could you tell us more?”_

The tall girl was staring as the shorter blonde activist began speaking. She was looking at her chest.

_“Mikasa Ackerman is a bully and a thief, and she doesn’t care about sustainability or our future generations. All she cares about is making money, and she’s destroying our natural habitats in the process!”_

Annie grinned and nibbled at Mikasa’s neck.

“That short blonde girl doesn’t like you like I do,” she murmured. Mikasa smirked and wrapped an arm around Annie, pulling her close.

“Is it bad that I’m enjoying this?”

“It certainly is,” Annie said playfully as she slid her tongue along the tendons at Mikasa’s neck.

_“But why has the Ackerman Corporation been allowed such unrestricted access to natural resources? Enter Annie Leonhardt, mastermind behind the Lion’s Den, a financial institution that has been accused of embezzlement activities and pyramid schemes. If that wasn’t enough, Leonhardt has worked her way up the political ladder and is said to hold a powerful shadow seat in governmental matters.”_

_“Now, combine these two corrupt forces together, and you can see why we should be worried.”_

The screen showed an image of Mikasa and Annie sitting next to each other in a box seat at a theater. It was funny how the press had found an image where both of them looked horribly bored and conniving. Mikasa remembered that night. She had been thinking how she might get into Annie’s pants during intermission. She almost laughed.

As the station went to commercial and an image of a starving child was shown on the screen, the two billionaires immediately lost interest. Annie pressed the mute button.

“Well, this was totally worth it,” Annie said, looking pleased.

“You know we didn’t come here for that.”

“Mm, right to the point. That’s what I like. Well, let’s get to it, then. You need to close down a few factories upstate.”

“Are you kidding me? I’ve got Black Friday on my heels, and the fuckers are behind. I’m rushing a whole new line of Ackerpacks. I can’t close down anything until March, at least.” Miksasa said, sounding powerful and ruthless, and it was only Annie Leonhardt who could stand up to it.

“Mikasa. You know I wouldn’t ask you unless it was important. I’ve got Shadis on my balls, and he wants to make sure he still has some weight to throw around. Close ‘em up there and I’ll write up a bill to save you twice as much in air pollution credits next year.”

Mikasa said nothing, but Annie could tell the difference between stalwart Mikasa and contemplating Mikasa. This was contemplating Mikasa. A smile played upon her lips.

“Fine. But I’m blaming the shutdowns on the government.”

Annie grinned. “Fine by me.”

Mikasa sighed and picked up the phone at the dresser on her side of the bed.

“Yeah, this is the pent house. Bring me that laser-engraved Dom Perignon White Gold, a bucket of ice—“

“Case of Coors Light would be nice,” Annie mumbled.

“—And a case of CLs. Yeah, same as last night. Hurry it up.”

Annie grinned.

“Wait, why’re you calling that in? Where’s Jean?” Annie asked as she looked around the huge bedroom.

Mikasa shrugged. “He came in this morning crying about how his boyfriend got his arm tore off while working in one of my factories. I had no idea what he was talking about, but he wouldn’t shut up, so I had to let him go. It’s a shame; he was a fine aide.”

“That’s a drag. Why do people have to be so touchy?” Annie said wistfully. She liked Jean. He was easily to manipulate.

Mikasa shook her head. “No clue. Here, let me get this started.”

She picked up one of her phones and speed-dialed a number.

“Armin? Yeah. We’re going to have to close down 675, 677, and 678.”

She paused to listen.

“No, it’s fine. I’ve got Leonhardt writing up a new pollution bill.”

Annie could hear an outburst happening over the phone on the other end.

“—No, no. Stop. Listen to me. I don’t care about those people. We’re in the red. What? Okay, well, yellow is the new red. I’m hanging up now, get on it.”

She hung up the phone and looked over at Annie. The blonde’s eyes were lidded with passion.

“Our ‘business meetings’ turn me on.”

Annie pushed herself up and lifted her legs up and over Mikasa’s stomach to straddle her. She leaned down to kiss the black-haired girl.

That’s when the door to the bedroom creaked open. Before it had completely opened, a girl’s voice rang out.

“Room service! Drinks and… drinks.”

The door opened completely, and a girl dressed in waiter’s slacks and white button down shirt was standing in the doorway with one hand holding a tray of champagne and an ice bucket. Her other hand was holding the handle of a case of Coors Light.

“O-oh. Oh. I’m... goodbye.”

The girl, whose hair was an auburn brown and tied tightly into a long ponytail, took a step backwards as if to leave, but Mikasa raised a hand.

“No, you’re not leaving. They’re going to charge me for that whether you deliver it or not, so deliver it.”

“Oh, this? I—Yes! I can leave this right here. She made to set down the tray by the dresser near the door. Annie turned her head to look at her. She licked her lips.

“What’s your name?” The blonde’s ass with sticking out into the air as she said it, and when the brown-haired girl looked up she immediately looked away. Her face was red.

“Sasha?” She said, sounding confused.

Mikasa snorted. Annie lifted herself off of her lover and pushed herself off the bed.

“Sasha is a rather pretty name,” She said slowly, and as she neared Sasha realized she was shirtless and her face got even redder.

“I should really be going!” Sasha said shakily, but Annie was already close enough to grab her hand. She squeezed it and led Sasha slowly towards the bed.

“Don’t leave, Sasha. We like you. We think you should stay,” Annie said musingly. Sasha glanced at Mikasa, also shirtless on the bed. Her toned abs and muscular shoulders made the poor serving girl’s mouth water. She tried to look down at the tray that was still in her hands.

“You ordered this wine.”

“It’s champagne, dear,” Mikasa said as she slowly pushed herself off the bed and sat at the foot of it, where Annie and Sasha were standing.

“Would you like to try it?”

Sasha gulped and nodded her head, and Mikasa nodded in Annie’s direction. The blonde grinned mischievously and popped the cork off the champagne bottle. The sound of it made Sasha jump, but she wasn’t prepared for what happened next.

Mikasa tilted her body back, and Annie tilted the champagne bottle so that it poured down Mikasa’s chest, right between her breasts. Sasha’s eyes widened, and she would have stayed frozen like that forever, until Annie pushed her at the small of her back.

“Go on, try it.”

Sasha bent to one knee and leaned forward, and she ran her tongue from Mikasa’s ribs up to her collar bone. Mikasa made a soft, satisfied sound and put a hand to Sasha’s head.

“Well?”

“Um, it’s good, but it’s not worth $1,594 a bottle.”

Annie and Mikasa looked at each other, and then they laughed.

“Mikasa,” Annie said, as she rested a hand on Sasha’s shoulder, “I think we just found your new aide.”


	8. Hallucinations

There’s no light. There’s no sound. There’s no airflow. The temperature doesn’t change.

I’ve been sliding against the four walls. Boundaries. Important. I’m not floating in space. I am contained.

I’ve been contained in one way or another since…

Since when?

When you told me to fall, did you know where I’d go? Did you know I’d close myself away? Did you know I’d go to hell? When your blade cut through my skin and the bone, and I lost my grip on salvation, and your pretty eyes were dead stones in a shallow pool, what was really going on in that head of yours?

I slam my elbow into the smooth stone wall. The sharp pain fills me up and I think I’ve regained myself, but then I’m questioning if I even moved my arm at all. I can’t see even a few inches in front of my face. Maybe I’ve been tied up this entire time and I’m just imaging moving. Honestly, I can’t decide which is worse. But if I’m not tied up I’m probably covered in blood and bruises.

It doesn’t matter. I’ll starve before I can lose enough blood to end it. If I’m losing blood at all.

* * *

 

Why did the crystal crack?

I can only blame myself.

It takes a great deal of focus to suspend your own time. I was not entirely prescient. I lost myself. I heard voices sometimes. The guards were near often, but not you. I never felt your presence. It’s nothing more than what I deserve, but this pitch black mind fuck is more than I can bear.

My thoughts wandered. I remembered the good times. The 104th, Eren, Reiner, Bertolt, Armin. You. But when my protective shell shattered and I hit the ground all I could think of was myself. I tore wildly into my forearm with my nails, and before the guards could react I shifted.

What a horrible idea.

I remember the sound of my screaming roar as my body hit the confines of the room and… it was I who gave way. I could feel my bones breaking, and my muscles twisting. I was trapped. When the soul shattering pain was too much, I fainted.

When I woke up, I was myself again. Half naked and tied to a wooden board. I was blindfolded. Despite everything, I smiled.

“This is the last thing you’ll ever hear my voice,” I said. The man nearest me cursed and ran his knee into my stomach.

After that, it was days and days of pain. The memories are lost to me now. I was delirious by the end of it. They could have killed me and I wouldn’t have known. Eventually, they gave up on me.

They left me alone for a long time after that. I thought maybe I’d been forgotten, but they proved me wrong. The guards had to carry me, I was so weak. They pulled off my blindfold. I saw you standing against the wall. Your arms were crossed over your chest and your face was in shadow. My heart jumped. I wanted to say something, but my throat might as well have been full of sand. I wanted to scream at you, but I could barely keep my eyes open. Then, the blindfold was back on and they carried me down and down and down.

When I first opened my eyes after that, I thought I was dead. It was beyond black. The black you’d see at the ends of the earth. The black behind the stars. Blacker than your hair, spread out on the pillow in your bunk at night. Blacker than your eyes, when you realized just how horrible I truly was.

* * *

 

I’ve seen you many times since then. You come to me when I’ve finally found some small amount of peace, and it always starts out the same. You put your hands on my shoulders, or you kiss my neck. I try to tell myself that you’re not real. You’re not here. I always give in. I talk to you. You talk back.

All of our conversations always lead back to the same subject.

That’s when things get ugly. You ask me questions I can’t answer. You remind me about what I’ve done. You scream at me, and I scream back. You’re not real. You laugh and tell me that I’m not real either. Sometimes you attack me, and I throw myself against the wall, trying to escape. If I’m lucky, I lose consciousness.

I’ve stopped counting the days. I’ve stopped sliding along the walls. I don’t even try to move anymore. Moving might make you appear again. If I can stay very still and very quiet, maybe you’ll forget I exist.

A hatch opens above me. A square of light pours in from above. The sound of it makes me jump. The light burns my eyes and I turn away. In the instant before I slam them shut I look down and see myself. My skin is pale, covered in cuts and bruises.

“Annie. I can’t let you die like this.”

It’s your voice.

“Are you real?” I ask, my voice breaking.

 


	9. Obsession

I doubt you’d remember me.

I ran track in high school. I joined because I knew I’d be good at it. When I first saw you, I had just finished warm ups and your scrimmage was underway. I noticed you because a girl on the other team kicked the ball, trying to send it over your head towards her team mate. She miscalculated, and it hit your thigh with a thundering smack.

It was like nothing happened. You kicked the ball forward and sprinted past her. You were like a God on the field. I wondered what it was that made you wake up in the morning. What did you look forward to, when you went to bed at night? What made you take a kick that hard and not fall to your knees?

I thought about you. I focused on you. Your energy got me through the nights. I forgot about the late calls and riding in the passenger’s seat in darkness at four in the morning. I forgot about dirty hotels rooms and gas station coffee. I got through it. I was fighting back, inwardly. I retained myself.

The memory of you made me wake up in the morning. It was so stupid. I knew somewhere in the back of my heart that what I was doing was a bad idea. Attaching so much weight to you. Attaching that weight to myself. Sinking below reality’s surface to drown.

I couldn’t stop.

When you joined the track team I could barely contain myself. I noticed you watching me. I noticed without you realizing it. I could see your head move out of the corner of my eye as I ran the lane. I made up a lot of stories. Maybe, I thought, just maybe, you had joined up for me. Maybe I was finally the one to catch a break. Maybe you would talk to me, and we could get to know each other.

“I don’t want to do this anymore,” I had said.

I said it in the car, on the way home from another hotel. He didn’t look at me when he replied.

“You _owe_ me,” he had said. Somewhere in my heart I believed him, but then I thought of you and I snapped.

“It’s over. Let me out.”

The car screeched to a heart-stopping halt. It was raining lightly on the empty road. I pushed open the car door and ran. It was a horrible mistake. He caught up to me and sent his fist into my face. It was the first time I’d ever been hit, but I didn’t lose consciousness. I didn’t even fall down. I took it, and I raised my eyes back at him. I could see the fear he was trying to hold in.

I had taken it, and I was still standing. Just like you.

We got back into the car and he drove me home in silence. When I went to school the next morning it was impossible to hide what had happened. Everything came out. I came clean. I needed to.

I didn’t realize they’d take me out of school. Take me away “for my protection”. If I’d known we’d be separated I would have stayed quiet. I would have stayed home. I would have tried to find you on my own.

It took years to find you again.

I won’t make the same mistake twice.


	10. Zombie Apocalypse AU

You can’t be sentimental when everything goes to shit. I’m not one of those victims who loses it and lashes out. I was ready to go down. I was ready for anything, but this. This is too much.

* * *

 

There are clever ones, and a clever one found the lock and broke it with his hungry, bloody teeth. I didn’t know fuck all about the new world, barely knew about the old one, but I saw a shadow coming down the stairs so I picked up the shovel I’d smuggled in a few weeks ago. I waited for the perfect moment and with my own hungry desperation I swung. I missed. I blew open a pipe and water roared out. That’s when I heard the screams.

So I learned that the bastards can’t handle water.

I turned to see the selfless corpse writhing and twitching like the end of a lizard’s tail on hot cement. My empty stomach turned and twisted and I twisted my head away.

I found my cat half eaten at the top of the stairs. I stepped over it and went outside. The sun made my eyes burn. The warmth of it on my skin was like the breath of a whispering god. It was graveyard-in-the-middle-of-the-night quiet. Empty as sin. I stood there in a daze.

The first thing I did, was I cut my hair short enough to tie into a messy bun. This was mostly practical, but also because I had never allowed to cut my hair shorter than my shoulders. I left the scissors and the long blonde strands on the sidewalk. No one would care.

I was stupid back then. Didn’t bring anything but a gallon jug of water and the shovel, dragging it behind me with a sickly metallic screech that echoed in the deserted side streets and alleys and parking lots.

I didn’t search my house before I left. I knew what I’d find. Heard what I’d find happen days ago. I was fixing to leave anyway. No hand can contain me too long. I stopped in markets and searched for food. Nothing. Looted to hell. I avoided anywhere I smelled death and I smelled it often. Looking back on it, I have no idea how I made it through that first week. If I’d known, all that time ago, how thin the thread at the border of life and death had been, I might have slid down a wall and sat until the end.

I slept in houses I didn’t know; slept on piles of blankets next to strange beds. Sleeping for a few hours at a time. I found stale cereal in the pantry. I tried turning on the TV and got snow. I found a house I liked. It was corpse-less and full of windows. It had a serviceable garden out back and a porch out front. It crossed my mind to live there, but I knew better than that. I didn’t have to learn the hard way that you can’t stay for too long in one place. I was always moving, always wanting to move.

I went into the city because I thought it would be easier to hide. I spent a night on the balcony of an apartment and heard the howls for the first time. I couldn’t see shit in the dark, all the streetlights on that street were dead. I pressed myself into the cool glass of the sliding glass door and held the gallon jug. I refrained from drinking that water like a priest dying of cold next to a bible and matches. I felt like I was being searched for. Like my presence, small as it may be, had caused a shift in the deserted city. By the time I wanted to go back to the suburbs I had lost my way.

* * *

 

It’s hard for me to tell you how I felt about the bodies back then. I wish I could tell you I wept, but if I did I can’t remember. The living corpses eat the dead ones, mostly from the inside out, in groups. so it’s not really bodies that you see, it’s just parts. And tons of blood. Of course, the dead ones are nothing next to the live ones. None of us really knows how it happened, but lots of people lost it. Everything. Their minds, their bodies. Transformed. They fight each other too. So do we. We’re all cats and we’re all mice.

But there’s something else. I come across water bottles punctured and empty. Some of them are clever, and I think they must know their own weaknesses. Water is impossibly hard to come by. It’d be easier to find cocaine.

* * *

 

I got tricky and thought to check a church for holy water. The wooden double doors were busted in and shredded up so it was easy for me to just climb right in. My shovel arm was finally strong enough to hold it proper. Gallon jug just about empty. Those were the ways I measured my life. It was dark inside but there was light enough from the hole in the door to see to the back of the room. I walked down the aisle and stood behind the pulpit.

There was howling scream outside and my heart dropped. It was close and getting closer. I lowered myself down to peek above the pulpit. When the light from the hole in the door got blotted out I knew I’d been found.

That one had horns for curving hair, spiking out from a grey, cracked scalp. His jaw was fucked up and hanging down like it was broken. His teeth were shark-like, thick and sprawling. Where his eyes should have been there were dark, eyeless holes. He was more demon than corpse and he was running straight at me. I lifted up the jug just as he got in range and flung the last of my water at him. I thought I could give myself some time to swing the shovel, but I miscalculated. The water wasn’t enough.

He lunged for the shovel and slapped it from my shaking hands. He was taller than me, blocking out the light so that I couldn’t see his face. He pushed me against the pulpit and I heard, somewhere in the distance, my head crack against it. There was ringing in my ears. I jumped up and dove around the pulpit.

I never had the “This is it, I’m dead” thought. I never managed to get that desperate. I don’t know what would have had to happen, but you never gave me enough time to get there. I caught the glint of metal out of the corner of my eye, and the demon in front of me noticed too, but too late. You swung a magnificent home run swing. There was a sickening thud, and I watched as the beast’s head exploded like a squeezed grapefruit.

The body fell to the ground. I sighed shakily, mostly relieved. You took my hand and helped me up.

“We can’t stay here,” you said. It was the first human voice I had heard in weeks. My throat felt like it was full of sand and I found myself unable to speak, so I nodded idiotically and picked up my shovel and jug. Your metal bat was dripping with blood and rotting brain matter. You rested it on your shoulder and turned, pulling me towards a side door.

“It’s not far, but we have to be quick. Sun is setting soon,” your said. Your voice was hushed, melodic. Comforting and severe at the same time. Pretty. I gulped.

We ran down an alleyway and turned onto a main road. I had avoided the main roads out of instinct, and I’m glad I did. It was like a war zone where both sides had lost. Horrific. Cars and bodies piled up. Some of them burning slowly. The smell of charred flesh and gasoline made me shudder.

Down another alley, and another. Then, up a ladder on the side of an apartment building. When we reached the top you pulled the ladder up and locked it into place. We went in through the window. You walked to the center of the room and dropped the pack you’d been carrying. You knelt down and started to unpack it. I realized that you must have been out on a supply run. I started to look around. It was an efficiency apartment. Whatever furniture there was had been pushed up against the door. There was a mattress on the floor against the opposite wall. Boxes were stacked up in the corner. I looked at you again, and you were looking back at me silently.

“Back there...” I trailed off. I felt stupid. I felt like I’d forgotten how to talk, “Thanks.”

You nodded slowly. Your eyes were searching, speculative. Your black hair was beautifully long, and strands of it covered your face. I wondered how long you had been living here, alone in the city. Just like me.

“You can come in. You’re not hurt, are you?” You asked as you pulled out some medical supplies and set them on the floor. You weren’t looking at me anymore. I stepped into the room and sat across from you, resting the shovel on my lap and setting the jug down at my side.

After what felt like an eternity of awkward silence, with you unpacking your supplies and me trying to not simply watch you like a weirdo, you spoke again.

“So, did it help?”

I looked at you, and one eyebrow inadvertently raised itself.

“What?”

“Your prayer.” A smiled played at your lips. I couldn’t help but follow your lead.

“Not really. I’m probably doing it wrong.”

“Happens to the best of us.”

“I thought I’d find water. The shovel isn't enough.” I shook my empty jug and shrugged.

You were staring at me with the blankest expression I had ever seen. Your incomprehension was almost comical. I shook the jug again.

“You know, to fight them off?”

“Uh…” You started.

“Haven’t you been using water on them?” I asked, nearly incredulous. How had you survived out here this long if you didn’t know that?

“Are you serious?” You said in awe.

“I can show you, if you want,” I offered. It was a ballsy thing to say. I’d never fought one head on. But somehow, with you, I knew we could take it.

That’s how it all began.

* * *

 

I keep myself awake at night, wondering how it’ll end.


	11. Betrayal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry in advance for any typos. I rushed this through and didn't get to proof. Will do so later.

Blood and screams. Drawing them out, that was my purpose. I was an excellent hunter. I could move throughout the city at night without being seen or heard. I killed cleanly; efficiently. I never left a trace.

I was the perfect assassin.

It was no wonder. My father was the Emperor. He could have made me into anything. It wasn’t so much that I obeyed or chose so much as I had no other options. I learned how to kill like a child would have learned how to ride a bike. There was also talent. I caught on easily. I improved quickly. A natural, they said.

I snapped the neck of the son of a wealthy merchant without making a sound. His lifeless body fell into my arms and I carried him to the docks under the cloud cover that hid the light of the moon. It would send a message. The boy was probably near my age. Not yet fully grown. Somewhere between a child and an adult. He probably hadn’t even known his father was in a bad spot.

I carefully slipped the family crest ring from his finger and then I dumped him overboard. The splash was the only thing that I couldn’t control. My breathing was calm. My heartbeat was steady. I was contained.

She didn’t approach me so much as blindside me. She was standing beside me and I turned, wildly, to face her. I didn’t understand how she’d come so close without my noticing. I reached for my dagger but she pulled my hand away and whispered harshly.

“Annie Leonhardt, I am not your enemy.”

So she knew who I was. That could be good, but it could also be bad. I stared at her evenly in the half-darkness. Asking questions meant giving away just how little I knew. I decided to stay quiet and let her give me more. She lowered her hand slowly.

“Yes, I know who you are. I know what you’ve done. And I know that your father is abusing your power.”

I wanted to strike her. I wanted to scream at her and tell her she was wrong. No one got the better of me; not even my father. I couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“Any power you think he has is only there because I’ve allowed it.” I hissed.

The black-haired girl smiled darkly. I had to do everything in my power not to push her off the dock.

“The black angel. The death-bringer. The Emperor’s dog.”

That last one cut deep. I narrowed my eyes. She saw me do it.

“That’s what they call you, where I’m from.”

“And where is that, exactly?”

“The Lower Reaches. Beyond the walls and beneath the city. The place they send the ones who no longer have a use.”

I looked at her.

“What are you talking about? There’s nothing beyond the walls. That’s why there are walls.”

The black-haired girl’s eyes looked pained for a moment, but she recovered quickly. She was taller than me, older than me by a few years at least. Built. She could have probably taken me down if we fought outright. I knew I should have left minutes ago, but something in me said to stay.

“Listen. I don’t expect you to believe everything I have to say, but hear me out. Your father is dealing in dark matters, and he’s using you. You say it’s your choice to make, but you never made a choice to begin with. You’re his personal killing machine, and what you’re doing is for him, not for you.”

Her words stunned me. I didn’t know how to respond. I wanted to believe that she was manipulating me. Another of father’s enemies, sent to try to take advantage of me and turn me around, but I could feel the sincerity in her voice and see it in her eyes. She truly believe what she had said.

“Even if what you say is true, what does it matter? I don’t have any other choice. Besides, I’m good at it.”

“That’s just the thing. You _do_ have a choice. The chance to change things is fast approaching. You’re the only one who can take it.”

She pulled a vial from her pocket. The label was in a script I couldn’t read, but the color of it was enough for me to realize that she was holding poison. She took my hand and dropped the vial into my palm before I could pull away. I held onto it, despite myself.

I know you’re struggling to hold on to the only life you’ve ever known, but I also know that deep down in your heart, you believe me.”

She stood up straighter and pulled her hood over her head. Her eyes were cast in a deep shadow.

“If you follow through, meet me by the hanging gardens at dawn.”

Then, she took a few steps back and jumped from one dock to another in silent grace. I looked down at the vial in my hand. My mind was spinning. Memories of my father, the good and the bad, flew through my mind one after another. _The only life I’d ever known._ She was right. Everything she said had been right.

I closed my fit around the vial and looked up, my eyes narrow and determined.

After I killed him, she would be next.


	12. Obsession 2

I tried to get a job as a bartender on one of the bars on the strip of road where all the popular college bars were. I sat through an entire interview before the manager told me the position had already been filled. They either didn’t like my personality or they didn’t like my looks. Maybe both.

I’d grown lean over the years. Never stopped running. I woke up early in the morning and I ran all the way down to the highway exit and back. Empty roads. I wasn’t eating too much lately. Eating was a chore, and I was on a mission.

I didn’t want to be too far from campus so I got a job at a gas station a block from the bars. It was open 24 hours. They had a walk in beer freezer and a place to order kegs. A busy place. Full of guys in sandals and shorts, with facial hair and pink shirts. Frat guys. I did a lot of menial labor there. Took out the trash. Stocked the shelves. I could feel their eyes on me. It didn’t matter.

No one ever said a word to me. I guess I looked kind of scary. I’d gotten a few piercings by then, my eyebrow, lip and tongue. One of my tattoos crawled up my back, just visible at the nape of my neck. Hinting at more.

I wondered if you would recognize me, if I ever managed to find you.

It was Ymir who ended up helping me out. Neither of us knew how indebted I would end up being to her, at first.

“Shit. Leonhardt. You can’t just get off work and go home on a night like this. Just starting to get cooler. A little breeze. The girls will all be wearing skirts. You’ve got to come out.”

She said this so easily. I didn’t want to go anywhere but home. I was depressed. It had been months, and still I hadn’t seen you. I didn’t expect to see you at the gas station, but I thought you might eventually walk by. It was a pretty prime location for foot traffic, even if you didn’t party.

During breaks I’d cross the street and wander around campus. I felt out of place. I didn’t go there. Didn’t ever bother trying to get in. Knew they’d take one look at my record and that’d be that. I managed to get into the Community college about 15 minutes away. I’d always been good at writing.

“I can’t tonight. They had me on keg detail.” Fuckers. The strongest guys are always the ones who duck out on the tough jobs. My shoulders and back were aching. I wanted to ice them.

“Whoa. Whoa. Hold on. Let me think for a second.” Ymir paused and her eyes shifted upwards as if she were deep in thought. “Nope. Don’t care. You’re coming. There’s gonna be some serious athletic ladies.”

I looked up. Bait taken. Ymir pressed on.

“Yep. Stocky, built rugby dykes. Tall volleyball chicks, like yours truly,” Ymir grinned. “Tennis, soccer, ultimate Frisbee! You name it.”

I pressed my lips together and forced myself not to speak.

“I’m not drinking.”

“Even better!” Ymir said happily and shoved her keys into her pocket. “You can drive.”

I frowned outwardly, but part of me was excited. Maybe this time. This would be it. I’d finally find you.

-

The part was just as crazy as I would have expected. There were mostly girls there, but some guys too. They were doing keg stands out on the back porch. Inside, in the kitchen, a shoter blonde girl about my age was making drinks. Ymir was flirting with her. I rolled my eyes and joined a group of people outside on the front porch to smoke.

I lit up. I closed my eyes as I held the smoke in my mouth. When I exhaled I opened them again and in the clearing smoke I saw a girl walking up the steps. Black hair, dark eyes, muscular build, and taller than me. It was you.

I stood there and could hardly believe that with all the time I’d had on my hands while trying to find you, I’d never once thought about what to do when that moment came. I guess I never thought it would ever happen. Maybe I was afraid. Thinking things through has never been my strong suit.

You walked up the stairs and paused at the entrance. You glanced my way, and you stood there for a moment, looking at me. We stared at each other like a pair of idiots. It was so absurd that I almost wanted to laugh.

You looked just like I remembered you. Even after all these years.

I wouldn’t be able to go through with it. How could I? We were too different back in highschool, and how much has really changed since then? I doubted you’d even know who I was. I dropped my gaze. I could feel my cheeks getting hot. I had failed.

“Annie?”

I looked up suddenly.

“Annie Leonhardt?” You took a step forward. Your dark eyes were searching. I realized that you looked nervous too. My heart fluttered in my chest.

“That’s me,” I said coolly, inwardly surprised at the level of calm I was managing to display.

“Oh, wow.” You looked flustered. Lost for words. “I’m Mikasa. Ackerman. We went to high school together.”

I stared. I couldn’t believe you remembered me.

You laughed nervously. “Doubt you’d remember me.”

I wanted to say something. I opened my mouth to speak.

“Whatever happened to you, anyway? You left school one day. We never saw you again.”

I closed my mouth. Shit. If I let that out I wouldn’t be able to manage. I couldn’t talk about that with you. Not now. Not yet. Why did you have to ask me that? God damn it. I pushed down my emotions. I could feel my expression hardening.

“O-oh. Sorry, I didn’t mean to get all up in your face,” You said quickly, distancing yourself. Took a step back. You realized how forward you’d been and now you were embarrassed. Your ears were getting red. I watched, locked inside myself.

“I’ll… see you inside,” you muttered hastily and turned to open the door. When it closed I raised my head and looked up at the stars.

“You idiot,” I whispered to myself as I ran a hand through my hair. 

Not the greatest of starts, but at least I'd found you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any typos. Will go back and fix at some point.


	13. Angel/Demon AU

_It’s the daughter of the dawn_ , they said. _She who once laid waste the armies and the cities. She who ascended our ranks. She, whose eyes rose to shine brightest in the morning. She who rose to the Most High and sat upon the throne in the clouds, to rule_. The Angels formed a circle around her. She was bound in barbed wire at the wrists and ankles. Her limbs pulled tightly, bleeding where the sharp jagged points caught at her pale skin. They had disrobed her. She was quite nude, and seemingly unashamed.

Oh how she had fallen.

“Anniel,” the Matriach spoke. Her voice boomed like deep and distant thunder. She stood behind the blonde. In her hands she held a golden whip.

Anniel, the fallen angel, slowly raised her eyes. Her lips curved up to a sneering smirk.

“ _You_ won’t be able to save me,” she said flatly.

The Matriarch narrowed her eyes and raised her hand. Her face was stern, composed. Resolved. The whip left the ground.

* * *

 

Mikasael heard the sound of the whipping from very far away. Her heart dropped deep into her stomach and beat there rapidly, fluttering like a bird caught in a cage. She bit down on her bottom lip and sat very still, listening. Everything had turned out just as she had expected it to; just as she had warned Anniel it would.

But when had she ever listened to her?

The whip again. Cracking against skin like the fiery breath of an ancient dragon. Mikasael could see, very clearly, how Anniel’s back would have looked. Split open. Drowning in blood. Demon blood.

She slammed her eyes tightly, and flinched when she heard the next crack of the whip. She had tried to stay away. In fact, she was thousands of miles away, sitting atop a gargoyle at the peak of a Roman cathedral.

Nowhere was ever far away enough.

“Damn you,” she whispered, her eyes still closed. The past ran before the darkness. The past, when things were still okay. When her and Anniel were still fledgling Angels. Running errands. Sneaking around. Staying out late. All of that had ended.

Anniel had been the one to end it.

It was so long ago, but Mikasael still couldn’t forgive her. Anniel had been so determined to rise to the top. She wanted power. She managed to find it, but she couldn’t hold on to it. She lost the throne; lost herself. In the end they cast her out.

Now she ruled Hell.

* * *

 

_I’m here to get you back._

That’s what Anniel had said at the gates of Heaven.

Mikasael had screamed at her. Told her she was an idiot. That she’d get caught if she stayed. Didn’t she realize what they’d do, if they found her?

_Getting caught is part of my plan._

That’s when Mikasael gave up. She tore through the wind and the clouds like a bullet. She escaped.

* * *

 

The crack of the whip. Silence. The crack of the whip. Silence. Anniel kept her screams inside. She wasn’t giving them anything.

Mikasael slammed her fist into the cathedral stone. The world shook. She couldn’t bear it any longer. She stood and looked up into the clouds. They opened up.

Somewhere far away, Anniel opened her eyes.


	14. Doomed Relationship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is something different. I wanted to focus on dialogue. A bunch of subtle things going on. I'm not sure if any of it will come across.

“Why did you lie to me?”

“I lied to me, too.”

“That’s not good enough, Annie. Not this time.”

“You don’t feel sorry for me?”

Mikasa said nothing. Annie continued.

“You’re the reason I’m in here.”

“I’m the reason they haven’t cut you open.”

“Because I give you what they want.”

“Well, now they want names.”

Now it was Annie’s turn to be silent. After a moment, she continued again.

“You know I can’t do that.”

“It doesn’t matter. If you don’t give me something they won’t let me do this anymore.”

“What do they think you’re even doing?”

“I have no idea. No one asks.”

“They’ve always been afraid of you.”

“And you.”

“I need a name.”

“I’ve given you more than enough clue. Have Armin figure it out. He figured me out, without any help. And I was so careful,” She looked up, into Mikasa’s eyes.

“…but it just takes one mistake.”

Mikasa crossed her arms over her chest.

“Armin isn’t here right now. He’s on the front; beyond the walls.”

Annie shook her head.

“What a waste.”

“No one expected what he said would be true. No one thought it was really you. No one wanted to believe him. It took us so long, to finally believe him.” Mikasa’s voice shook.

“You shouldn’t have let me go.”

“It didn’t matter, did it? They caught you anyway. They brought you back. Your disappearance proved your guilt.”

“God, and then you told them to take my fucking ring off. How did you know?”

Mikasa shrugged. “Had a hunch.”

“If you hadn’t let them do that, things would be different. I’d be far, far away.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt it. But I would have hunted you. I’d find you and bring you back.”

“To what end?”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s the right thing to do.”

Their conversation was over. Mikasa stood up and walked towards the door.

“Wait.”

Mikasa stopped and stood still.

“Try Ymir.”

Mikasa looked back.


	15. Doomed Relationship 2

Mikasa was looking up. Up, far up, just beneath the vaulted ceiling, where the thin slotted windows were. She could see the fading sunlight going pink behind the cobwebbed glass. From pink, to purple, to blue and then grey. A cloudless night sky with winking stars to watch them from above.

Someone behind her was talking. She was vaguely aware of the words flowing around her like a gentle mountain stream. A memory flooded her mind without warning. She had first seen death so long ago. She had known the feeling of blood being drawn out, when her mother first showed her how to sculpt her skin with the blade.

The flashing light from the axe cut her mind in half. She heard again the swollen scream. Then, darkness. Emptiness. Nothingness.

A shiver ran up her spine and she came back to her senses. Someone had said her name. Erwin was looking at her. Levi was looking away.

“She doesn’t have anything left for us.”

Levi rolled his eyes. Erwin pursed his lips. Mikasa thought the two of them were perfect for each other. She could feel her heart beating hard, hanging from a string in the center of her hollow shell. Things were not going to be okay.

“She’s lying to you, Mikasa,” Armin spat. Mikasa was startled by his emotion. She, who had been keeping all of it locked deep inside, could hardly handle his rushing, rapid torrent of bitterness. Annie had hurt him. Her betrayal had taken something from him that he couldn’t get back. She kept her eyes on the darkening sky. Turning around to face him would be like facing herself.

“It seems Ackerman’s tactics have plateaued. Next time it should be me,” Levi drawled. He was enjoying this. Mikasa thought he must be fantasizing about what he’d do to her, to break her apart and force out the truth.

“No.” Erwin’s booming voice nearly shook the small room.

Mikasa shifted her weight uncomfortably.

“No. I think Mikasa is right.”

Mikasa stared very directly at the windows. Night had fallen, heavily. There was very little moonlight.

“The traitor is no longer useful.”

Mikasa held her breath.

“You can’t just kill her,” Eren muttered. He had been quiet. Mikasa wondered what he would think if he knew what she had done; how she felt. She reached a hand up to touch the frayed ends of her scarf.

“We’re not going to kill her,” Levi said, relishing in the chance to put Eren down, “but where she’s going is practically the same as death.”

* * *

 

“You shouldn’t be here. It’s probably a trap.”

Annie’s hushed voice touched Mikasa in all the right places. She walked inside the cell and closed the door. Annie was in the middle of the room. Her ankles and wrists tightly bound to the wooden chair in which they kept her. The lantern Mikasa set down in the corner was the only source of light. She could hear water dripping from the ceiling onto the cold stone floor.

“Do you know what’s going on?” Mikasa asked quickly, startled by Annie’s greeting.

Annie shook her head. She had a blindfold tied around her eyes. “I know enough. They’re moving me tonight.”

“Yeah. I’m not sure where.”

“Did they tell you what they were doing?”

"In passing, yes."

Mikasa reached down and pulled the blindfold down. Annie lifted her head up. Her once brightly pale blue eyes were dark and sullen, and dark rings beneath them told of the sleepless nights. Mikasa’s heart dropped at the sight of her.

“You need to leave,” Annie forced out the words. Her lips were chapped and swollen. Dehydration.

“…I can’t.”

Mikasa ran her hand up Annie’s neck, brushing at the bruise she had purposefully made to show the others that what she was doing was real. Annie nearly moaned at the touch.

“Don’t be an idiot.”

“Says the idiot,” Mikasa whispered, and she knelt down in front of Annie and pressed her lips against the other girls jutting collar bone. Annie arched her back.

“You don’t have time to fuck around,” Annie said breathlessly as Mikasa trailed her kisses up the other girl’s neck with a horrible slowness. “They already know.”

“Then it doesn’t matter at all, does it?” Mikasa whispered as she pressed her lips against Annie’s own. The blonde kissed back, struggling against her bindings. She broke the kiss to speak.

“I wish I could touch you.”

Mikasa took out a knife and cut the leather bindings from Annie’s wrists and ankles. Annie sighed and moved as much as her weakened body would allow. The skin where she’d been tied down was purple and sunken. Mikasa kissed one wrist, and then the other. Annie watched her longingly.

“Can you stand?”

“Doubt it,” Annie muttered.

“If I have to, I’ll carry you out of here.”

It was then that the sound of a key being jammed into the lock rang out and broke the tranquility, and the light poured in like fire as the door creaked on its hinges to slam open. Soldiers stood in the doorway, dark figures framed in sickeningly bright light.

“Erwin was right,” the soldier in the middle remarked in marked disgust.

Mikasa turned quickly and stood. She gripped Annie’s hand behind her with a desperate tightness. In her other hand, she held the knife. She looked at the soldiers before her, slowly raising her gaze to meet them. Her eyes were dark, and she was smiling.


End file.
